Denzel Washington
Born: 28th December, 1954
Where: Mount Vernon, New York, USA
Washington is that rare thing - a black actor at the top of the Hollywood tree after landing a best actor Oscar for Training Day.
Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world, he has also impressed in the likes of Glory, Malcolm X, Philadelphia and Cry Freedom.
He has also successfully branched out into directing with his debut feature Antwone Fisher, in which he also starred.
The son of a Pentecostal minister father and a beautician mother, Washington enrolled at Fordham University in the Bronx on a journalism degree.
However, after appearing in Othello in a college production he decided he wanted to be an actor.
Moving to San Francisco, he joined the American Conservatory Theatre was soon cast as Dr Phillip Chandler in the medical drama St Elsewhere.
In 1986 Washington was chosen by director Sidney Lumet for the role of a public relations executive in Power, even though the part had originally been written for a white man.
His first Oscar nomination came round in 1987 for his role as the martyred South African leader Steven Biko in Richard Attenborogh's Cry Freedom.
Two years later he was presented with the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of the slave-turned-soldier in Glory directed by Edward Zwick.
He kicked off a fruitful relationship with director Spike Lee when he starred in Mo' Better Blues and earned another Oscar nomination for Malcolm X.
The role playing the black civil rights leader inspired him to name his son Malcolm in honour of Malcolm X.
Subsequent roles included the crowd-pleasing Pelican Brief opposite Julia Roberts and the AIDS drama Philadelphia alongside Tom Hanks.
On the set of 1995's Crimson Tide he reportedly took visiting director Quentin Tarantino to task for alleged racial slurs included a re-write of the script.
He won plaudits for the Carl Franklin thriller Devil in a Blue Dress and then switched genres to action for Courage Under Fire.
In 1999 Washington enjoyed yet another Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of the former middleweight boxer Ruben 'Hurricane' Carter in Norman Jewison's The Hurricane.
His role in Training Day won him the Best Actor Oscar in 2002, where he celebrated with Halle Berry, who won Best Actress for Monster's Ball.
They were the first black actors to win the top accolades in the same year.
He followed that with the lacklustre John Q and then made his directorial debut with Antwone Fisher, in which he also starred, and showcased Derek Luke's headline grabbing debut.
Recent work includes the Tony Scott thriller Man on Fire and Jonathan Demme's remake of The Manchurian Candidate.
